In 2005, the Carlyle Group agreed to pay $375 million for Xugong Group Construction Machinery, however, according to the Financial Times report, it soon became a contentious issue that the Chinese government was pressured to block by nationalistic groups.The asset was considered a strategic asset that was being sold at a bargain price.The deal fell through this week, in what many consider a culmination of the difficulties of doing business in China.

In 2005, there were four infrastructure-focused private equity firms in the market looking to raise $US 1.8-billion, this year there are a record 71 such funds. An article in The Globe and Mail reports, these funds have emerged as a result of the recent volatility in the market, energy infrastructure companies and power utilities have become highly valued for their stability, long-term cash flow, and lack of correlation to other investments including equities and bonds, according to this report.

Established in 1670, Hudson’s Bay, North America’s oldest name in retailing, is now one of its newest private equity acquisitions.The company was acquired this week by NRDC Equity Partners for an undisclosed amount, according to The New York Times.A significant change initiated by the private equity firm will be to reduce the flagship store in downtown Toronto from 900,000 sq. ft. to 300,000 to 400,000 sq. ft.

"Warding off the next wave of banking crisis is the incoming challenge," says John Loewen of Loewen Partners. Top financial companies are stepping forward and not waiting for government to try to restore investors' brittle faith in global markets.The Globe & Mail reports the financial leaders met in Washington to draw up recommendations that seemed pretty basic such as have a risk committee that understands the parameters of acceptable risk."Another point that rather floored me," said Jacoline Loewen, author of Money Magnet, was to do your due diligence. I guess with these "pass the parcel" debt structures which sent off the loans to other financial institutions, employees got lax because they didn't think the parcel would land back in their lap and blow up.I am glad to see that business is getting ahead of the regulators because Sar-Ox has meant that the New York Stock Exchange plummeted in IPOs listings while London's AIM rocketed. Here's more:

Although some have interpreted the report as a pre-emptive move to avoid the burden of more regulation, he IIF was quick to insist that this was not an effort in self-policing, and promised to work with regulators on new rules to benefit the industry.But there are limits to what central banks and market officials can do, Mr. Waugh said in an interview. “Prescribed regulation hasn't been very successful in averting crises and probably never will be.”

The definition of a Canadian, according to the late Pierre Berton, was "somebody who knows how to make love in a canoe." That confidence in managing the outdoors so as to achieve a desired goal is also an enduring characteristic of great leaders.The CEO of a large construction firm told me about his travails in hiring the right CFO for his high growth business. “Once I know they can do the finance requirements, then I want to take them outside and back up a tractor trailer or get them in a canoe and capsize it in the middle of the lake.”“Why on earth would that add to the skills of a CEO?” I asked.“Because that is about being able to cope when suddenly pushed out of your comfort zone,” he said. “How do you react? Do you freeze and avoid? Or can you calm yourself and decide on a rapid course of action where you might not have all the answers? Are you willing to try the untried but keep your head?” Someone who has done outdoor living – camping, fishing, hiking – is used to planning, organizing and doing. There is also the confidence that they can manage if they run into an unknown situation. To head off into the outdoors, you can not help but develop these qualities.Interesting enough, out of the 294 candidates selected to be NASA astronauts between 1959 and 2003, over 200 had been active in Scouting (and 11 of the 12 astronauts to moonwalk were scouts). A key goal of scouting is to develop confidence with being outdoors. The majority of the team of NASA astronauts in the early years were also from farming backgrounds. A farmer deals constantly with big weather pattern changes and incoming disasters. They have to be able to make a plan even when threatened with ruin.The most famous Eagle Scout was the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong. His ability to manage looming disaster came during his historic landing on the moon. As the spacecraft headed for the Tranquility Base landing site, Armstrong saw they were on crash course with a boulder that had not shown up on the surveillance photographs. The computer had 2K of computer power and was unable to manage the change. Armstrong had to recalculate (with a slide rule, sans calculator), flip off the computer and land the capsule himself. It was Neil Armstrong – calm and capable of dealing with difficulties – who saved the situation.Even if your sons can not join the Scouts, we are fortunate in Canada to have such easy access to the great outdoors. There are fully guided canoe trips given through community centers for those parents not comfortable going to Algonquin Park on their own. Fishing trips with overnight stays are also a great family vacation sure to be remembered.Many schools are making outdoor camps part of their curriculum. Some MBA schools run leadership programs using outdoor experiences to remedy the common complaint of the risk adverse attitude of graduates by beefing up “take action” skills.Maybe it is not such a crazy idea to ask your potential new hire, “Have you ever been in a canoe?”

Have you seen Home Depot’s latest newspaper advertisement? It’s a cartoon of a big box looking at an almost-weepy planet Earth and saying, “We’re not going to use pesticides anymore.” It took me a few seconds to get it; there is extraordinary power when the message coming down from the big box store is that green is “in”. Generally speaking, entrepreneurs are at the top of the heap in the world of business (yes, above all the investment bankers and government officials who think they are in business but have never had a paying customer in their lives). Being ahead of the crowd is the small to medium enterprise’s business and many have been living green for decades – because they like it and it makes good sense for the future.Eddie Weinstein runs Globe Electric, a family business that manufactures light bulbs for green living, and supplies big box businesses such as Wal-Mart. He says that as these enormous retailers choose to go green, they will change consumer lifestyles dramatically. When Wal-Mart asked Eddie for green bulbs, he had been working on building a green lifestyle for more than three decades, and therefore had the ability to manufacture enough product.Like so many of the entrepreneurs I meet, Eddie is someone who gives back every chance he gets. Last year, he invited David Suzuki to speak at a large function, and he chuckles when he recalls how David shook his hand and said, “So you’re the guy who’s been getting rich from green.”Eddie is gracious enough not to blast Suzuki, but I shall.Eddie has a tough business and serious competition. He has worked at it since the age of 18 by getting out there himself and building relationships with retailers, both small and large. He chose to reinvest his own money in his business when he probably could have slept better by putting that cash into Albertan oil stocks or Research In Motion. Contrary to Suzuki’s thinking, getting rich quickly does not happen easily in business; even RIM endured a 20-year uphill ride, and was not generally supported by Canadian investors until Americans noticed the company.Entrepreneurs live green, not because it is legislated, or because activist customers yell, but because they like it and tend to be decades ahead in their thinking. Back in the 90s, one of my clients, Spiros Pantziris, rebuilt Spintex, his second generation family business of yarn manufacturing, to be green. Spintex takes factory floor clippings of cotton T-shirts and strips them back down to base fibres to be spun again into coloured yarns. This means less dye and less cotton wastage. The factory even captures the waste wisps and clumps them into something that looks like what my cat coughs up. Except they are pellets the size of hockey pucks. These are shipped to local farms.“Cows eat this stuff?” I asked, anxiously.“It is cotton – a plant,” Spiros gently reminded me with a smile. When the call came from Target that they wanted green yarn for fishermen’s sweaters, Spintex was ready.The maharishi of green entrepreneurs, Michael de Pencier, bases his business philosophy on the concepts outlined in a book by Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. One of his companies is a green fund called Investeco, which acts as a private-equity partner in companies such as Eco Drycleaners, a user of environmentally-friendly chemicals. As de Pencier says, “Green living makes sense and smart businesses get green.” Thank you, David Suzuki.

Investing for You, Your Business and Your Family

Your life is a mixture of ambitions and commitments. We can help you fulfill them.

At UBS Bank (Canada), our reputation for outstanding global investment expertise combined with our confidentiality and security entices discerning investors around the world to entrust us with trillions of dollars of assets.

Wealth management is our core business and we have a platform that is unlike any other in Canada. We leverage UBS's global resources and capabilities to help you reach your financial goals.

We offer an outstanding private client experience - an experience we believe no one else in Canada can deliver.

We provide a purposeful and custom approach to investment management with a focus on wealth preservation and risk management.

We're not your typical wealth management team. Our advice and process will intrigue you and help you:

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Jacoline Loewen is Director of Business Development of UBS Bank (Canada), named Best Private Bank Globally 2014.

Prior to joining UBS, Ms. Loewen specialized in finance for private capital business, owner-operators and family businesses, specifically acquisitions, restructuring, sales, successions and private equity financing. She has over 20 year' experience working with owner-operators, family enterprises and in strategy. Jacoline Loewen is interested in wealth management n topics such as:

-Investment management - how to evalute your overall investment strategy. It comes down to one nymber that you need to know.

"Entrepreneurs and family business owners seek out my help to help with the tough process of succession or transition to the sale of the company. Business owners value understanding how to anticipate sudden wealth and how to transition wealth to their families."

Call, Email, Visit – Whatever you do, definitely contact me to learn more! We help people plan their finances and invest their money. For more on our fee-only registered investment advisory services and if we can help you with your investments in any way, please reach out to jacoline.loewen@ubs.com

See me on Twitter as JacolineLoewen, and on LinkedIn and Facebook by name. Invited as expert on BNN The Pitch, CBC, Dragons' Den and published by National Post, Globe & Mail, Leadership, Business Entrepreneurs, The Journal, Women's Post, as well as author of three books, the most recent, Money Magnet, is now a text book at Ivey Business School:

Money Magnet.

The feedback we have had about using the steps in Money Magnet is that business owners are surprised by how simple it is to understand, how much more money they can invest and earn and how shockingly few of their lawyers and accountants were aware of the benefits.

- Get factual case studies about the power of succession planning with strong life style goals. Do you want to retire rich - then understand the ROI of your business compared to the ROI of an investment portfolio.

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- Learn the Four Brutal Questions every Business Owner needs to know to attract investors.

- Find out how to know how much you need to fit your business, your lifestyle and your goals for wealth.

Read Ivey Business School's Pick for Finance

Investing Strategy

Services

For 150 years, people have been trusting UBS to manage their wealth. We provide investment advice based on critical thinking and thoughtful research once we fully understand what you want to accomplish. Together, we create an all-encompassing strategy for your investments, estate and tax planning, risk management, and borrowing.

Our Focus: We build custom investment portfolios and wealth management strategies that draw upon UBS's global knowledge.Our Clients: We work with individuals, families, and organizations with investable assets greater than $2,000,000Our Services: At a minimum, you can expect quarterly performance reviews, ongoing investment management, and comprehensive Estate and Tax Planning servicesOur Fees: Our typical all-inclusive tax deductible annual fee ranges between 1% - 1.5% of the money you invest depending on complexityOur Process: We apply a prudent approach and long term strategies to build investment portfolios following these steps:

Map and execute a financial plan to meet your current needs and future aspirations.

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With the UBS approach, your dedicated wealth manager works with a team of of financial experts to help you achieve your goals.

Rick Spence, Business Writer, National Post, says:

"A lot of business people still have trouble with the concept of strategic planning. They wonder who should do it, and what it's for. I just encountered a great explanation of strategy. It comes from a book, The Power of Strategy by Jacoline Loewen.

"I think that strategy is very similar to the search for the Holy Grail. Renowned knights traveled great distances and overcame severe hardship in the struggle to find this sacred relic, the chalice used by Jesus at the Last Supper. Finally, Sir Galahad was the one who discovered that the Holy Grail is, in fact, within us. There is no right or wrong answer -- it is the journey that provides the learning, not the Holy Grail itself.

In strategy, it is the process of people going through the questioning and thinking that ingrains the strategy into their everyday actions, not the plan itself."